Pausing at the door of her compartment, she gave me the same appraising glance she had given me the first time I saw her. Then she unlocked the door and went in.
I returned to Ursula and told her the man I believed to be Richter was still in his quarters. “Try to keep a watch on his door. I have to see to a little business of my own,” I said, making a check of the Luger.
“What sort of business, Nick?”
“Some people call it persuasion.”
I knocked on Eva Schmidt’s door and she opened it instantly. She looked surprised. “What do you want?” she asked in a German accent.
“In,” I told her. I pushed her out of the way, then quickly closed the door behind me.
The woman eyed me warily, but she was definitely not on the edge of panic. “There are better ways to get acquainted,” she said.
“This is more like a business call, Eva.”
“If you are a policeman, I have nothing to hide. If you are a thief, I have very little worth stealing.”
“Only an electronic device any number of governments would like to have,” I replied. “Let’s not play around. I know you’re a Topcon agent.”
“What in the world is a Topcon agent?”
“I also know that you’ve been talking to a KGB agent. You’re hoping to sell the device to the Soviets.”
“What’s a KGB agent?” she said. She was beginning to sound like a phonograph record.
I saw that I was going to have to convince her that I knew what I was talking about. I said, “I listened in on one of your conversations with the Russian. His name is Lubyanka. We have his picture in our files.”
Her eyes narrowed. “And who are you, the CIA?”
“I’m in their line of work.”
“Suppose I am trying to sell something to the Russians. How did you propose to stop me?”
“Well, there’s one easy way. I can kill you.”
Eva Schmidt didn’t flinch. “Not on a crowded train, you can’t. You’re bluffing.”
I moved my arm and the stiletto popped into my hand. “How very wrong you are. I’ve already killed one person on this train. I could easily make it two.”
Her face paled and her eyes flicked nervously to the knife’s gleaming blade. “The monitor isn’t in this compartment.”
“Where is it?”
“I can’t tell you that. If I did, my own people would kill me.”
My hand darted toward her. With one swift movement, I sliced a button off the front of her dress and it popped to the floor and rolled.
“It could just as easily be your throat, Eva.”
She gasped softly. Her eyes followed the button. “I don’t have the device. I’m only handling negotiations with the Russian.”
“The boss of Topcon is on the train, isn’t he? You’re a go-between, relaying the KGB’s offers to him.”
“Just a precaution. You know how it is. There’s no one you can trust anymore.” Apparently Eva Schmidt had a deadpan sense of humor.
I grinned at her and leaned against the compartment door. “If the KGB sets a price that’s right, your boss comes out of the woodwork and turns over the monitor. Is that the plan?”
“You won’t stop him from carrying it out. No one has ever stopped him.”
“I specialize in firsts,” I told her.
Then someone in the corridor turned the knob and gave the door a hard shove, throwing me off balance.
Eva Schmidt reacted as though she had been anticipating this opportunity. She lashed out with her foot and her heel caught me on the shin. Driving a shoulder into my chest, she clamped both hands on my wrist and brought my arm down over her knee.
The woman had taken lessons from an expert. She would have snapped my arm if I hadn’t moved with her, denying her the leverage she needed to offset my superior strength. I locked my free arm around her neck and yanked her head back so hard she grunted as though she’d been hit.
I brought the stiletto up and touched it to her throat, then spun around so that I was facing the door.
No one was there.
“Move again,” I told Eva, “and this trip’s over for you.”
She stopped struggling. I watched the compartment door, which now hung ajar, tremble slightly with the motion of the train.
Dragging the woman with me, I checked the corridor. Eva’s would-be caller had disappeared.
“You were expecting company. Who was it?” I asked her.
“The Russian. You scared him off.”
I kicked the door shut. “I have a hunch you’re lying and I just missed meeting Topcon’s head man.”
“If so, you’re fortunate. He would have killed you.”
That was the second time she’d told me how infallible the mystery man was. Either he aroused a lot of admiration in his co-workers or Eva had a personal interest in him. I remembered something the Chinese agent had said when he was boasting. Eva was not the chief of Topcon but she certainly wasn’t just another hireling, he’d said.
“Tell me about your boy friend, Eva. Start with his name.”
“You’re choking me. I can hardly talk.”
I relaxed my hold a little and she repaid me for the favor. She sank her teeth in my hand.
There are a few things you can’t steel yourself against. A deep bite from a keen set of teeth, and Eva appeared to have the keenest, is one of them.
I cursed and turned her loose.
The woman bounded away from me and leaped for the knitting case I’d seen her carrying in the day coach. She flipped the top back, reaching inside.
I hit her with a flying tackle, waist-high. We slammed onto the bunk. Eva kicked and scratched my eyes. We rolled to the floor and her knee flashed up and caught her target. I felt a nauseating pain.
“Damn,” I said. That was it. My patience had run its course. I hit her with the flat of my hand and her head struck the floor. I backhanded her again and she cried out as blood trickled from the corner of her lip.
I straddled her now, her bare thighs up against my back. Her dress had been torn in the struggle and I could see part of one breast. Somehow she looked sexier than she had before, but I was in no mood for friendly games.
Eva put a hand to her mouth, then looked at the blood on it. “Donnerwetter!” she spat. But fear was strong in her eyes.
“If the idea occurred to you that I won’t kill you because you’re a woman, put it out of your head.”
I held Hugo in front of her frightened eyes, then slid the blade up under her chin. “I won’t threaten you again. I’ll just do it.”
“His name is Horst Blücher. I will tell you no more even if it means my life. I won’t betray him. But if you wish to bid against the Russian for the device, I will get the word to Horst.”
I thought about that for a moment. I had no authority to pay hard cash to get the device back, but Eva apparently meant it when she said she’d give up her life to protect her boss.
I reached over to the knitting case and dug into it and pulled out a Beretta. I tucked the automatic into my pocket just for insurance.
“You and this Horst must have a pretty cozy arrangement.”
“He is a genius. I have great admiration for him.”
“And a little more than that, I’ll bet”
Eva touched the lip I’d cut with my backhand blow. “Yes, we’re lovers. That’s one of the reasons I’d die for him.”
“My government might be willing to make an offer to get the monitor back. Get the message to your man.”
“I will see what he says.”
“When will I know?”
“I suppose I can have an answer by tonight.”
I got off her and she sat up and leaned heavily against the side of the bunk. I felt there was little chance Horst would take the bait and come out into the open. But I was taking a long shot, hoping Eva would lead me to him.
Outside in the corridor, I wondered if I had made a mistake. There was a possibility Eva would succeed in contacting Horst without my knowledge and he would simply set out to polish me off. Then I’d have both Topcon’s big gun and the Chinese killer after my scalp. That was not a prospect I found appealing.